I would like to see any one of them (and The Donald, too, for that matter) in a combat situation as a Platoon Sergeant or a Squad Leader. Why? Where is the relevance? I'm sure none of them would acquit themselves well of squad leader duty, but squad leaders are about killing people and breaking things. Trump and his people are about making the deal.
The Donald would be far better off scouring the NCO ranks of the young men and women in Iraq, than looking to business school graduates.
I'd agree if he were planning a "real" hostile takeover, but he's not in that business. In Trump's world, business savvy and smooth fast talking are more useful assets than leadership. It's not a coincidence that every challenge involved selling. That's what it's all about.
I have no doubt that the NCO's you mention could out lead the pampered lot on the Apprentice any day of the week. The question is: Could they out sell them? I'm afraid they couldn't.
I respectfully disagree.
A good leader recognizes the strengths and weakness' of the team and capitalizes on them.
In each of the challenges so far, the project leaders have demanded that the team do as he/she says. A far better way is to look at each individual and see what they are comfortable with. We saw that Thursday when the personable young man from Idaho was instrumental in getting one of the celebs won over to the teams side. The project mgr just let him go, and it worked.
Selling and combat is very similar. You have to size up your enemy (customer) quickly, find his weaknesses and strengths, and capitalize on them. In both situations, you have few seconds to accomplish this.
The kicker in all this is the game aspect of the show and that does change the dynamics. They must catch The Donalds eye during the play. It will be interesting as the weeks progress.